Matteo Guendouzi hasn’t been seen in an Arsenal shirt since his petulant display against Brighton last season. He even went on holiday rather than go to Wembley to watch us beat Chelsea in the FA Cup Final, and did not even congratulate the players after the game.
We have seen Matteo in occasional training clips since the new season started, but with Arteta continuing to freeze him out, leaving him out of every single squad since the campaign started, we can safely assume that the young Frenchman is not in Arteta’s plans.
So there was little surprise that Guendouzi completed a deadline day move to Hertha Berlin in the Bundesliga and it sounds like he is relieved to get away from the Emirates. He told GetFootballFranceNews: “They are a very good club with big ambitions. So, I have left to go on loan there for a year, so I will give everything I can for this club. I needed playing time, I need to play, I needed to enjoy myself on the pitch and that is what I am going to do this year.”
He was also asked if the situation at Arsenal was untenable and he had to leave, but he simply dodged the question completely: “It is not that, I just really needed to play this year, a new challenge. That was the most important thing for me. I am still young, I am only 21, so playing time was the top priority for me. So Hertha Berlin, I know that I will be able to express myself in a magnificent league.”
I suppose from an Arsenal point of view, we have to hope that he is so impressive in Germany that we can sell him for a big fee next summer, or do you think Arteta may forgive and forget and give him another chance?